The Foundation of the City 
a few eggs there, then cease, pass beyond, 
and clamour for more workers’ cells. Her 
daughters obey; little by little they reduce 
the cells; and then the pursuit starts afresh, 
till at last the insatiable mother shall have 
traversed the whole circumference of the 
hive, and returned to the earliest cells. 
These, by this time, will be empty, for 
the first generation will have sprung into 
life, soon to go forth, from their shadowy 
corner of birth, disperse over the neigh- 
bouring blossoms, people the rays of the 
sun and quicken the smiling hours; and 
then sacrifice themselves in their turn to 
the new generation that already is filling 
their place in the cradles. 
64 
And whom does the queen-bee obey? 
She is ruled by the nourishment given her, 
for she does not take her own food, but is 
fed like a child by the very workers whom 
her fecundity harasses. And the food these 
workers deal out is nicely proportioned to 
the abundance of flowers, to the spoil brought 
177 M 
